05. Festival of Lights (Part 5)
Intro Noel insists that Kaitlin needs a new piece of paper to take notes on because her current one currently has a drawing of a dog on it. Kaitlin does not like this idea and insists that she writes small enough, imploring Noel to let her keep the penis dog. Kat just wants to start the game. Sophia yells ‘Penis Dog.’ It is an unusually short introduction. The Undertemple The Goddess' Room The Guardians decide to go to the Goddess’ room and discuss what has just transpired. The Goddess meets them eagerly and ushers them inside. Her room is beautiful, and to use Kat’s words, fit for a Goddess. As the Guardians enter, the Goddess begins to frantically sign at them, clearly still very upset about the battle with the shades. As Corbin yells about false prophets, Fran informs the Goddess of what Laika overheard the Attendant saying. This gives the Goddess an idea, and she shows the Guardians a book of the architecture of the Temple, specifically indicating the Undertemple. She informs them that it used to be a prison and speculates that perhaps the shades originated from there. The party decides to take a short rest and then head down to investigate. The Goddess allows Laika to hold her hand, and Fran sits in a corner facing the wall. The party realises that it would be advantageous to disguise the Goddess, and with Laika cheering in the background, Fran manages to disguise her fairly well. Perhaps a Big Scary Monster? As the early morning arrives, the Guardians begin the trek down yet another long spiral staircase, giving the stink eye to guards as they go. As they reach the door to the Undertemple, they find it unguarded, the Goddess tells them the limited information she has been able to find through her research. All that she knows is that an ancient evil used to be held down here and this lack of information is odd because the Temple library keeps comprehensive records on everything. The party heads through the doorway, down a stone staircase and emerges into an enormous cavern. In the middle of the cavern there is a hole that drops into clouds and sky, with chains hanging, bolted to the ceiling above it. Laika casts Divine Sense, and feels that there are just the barest races of some sort of off presence. Fran and Corbin investigate and find that there are deep claw marks around the edges of the hole that look like they are climbing down and out of the hole. This makes Corbin feel very uncomfortable. The Goddess points out that it’s weird because there is nothing below Estra, which makes Corbin begin to loudly speculate about big, scary, flying monsters. Laika asks if it went to the world below, but the Goddess says that nothing can survive down there. She continues to say that the Undertemple was constructed along with the original temple over a thousand years ago. Corbin decides to turn into a crow, fly through the hole and investigate the bottom of the island. As he flies through, he sees a trail of claw marks, leading from the hole all the way to the edge up the island, before disappearing up over the edge. The idea that whatever was held here got out and is still presumably on the island thoroughly grosses out Kaitlin. Corbin memorises where the claw marks end then flies back and tells the group. It is just starting to get light, and the Goddess worries about what her attendants will do it they find she is out of her rooms. As such, the party hurries back and takes a much needed nap. Errands However, the Guardian’s sleep is prematurely interrupted by the Attendants announcing that today they will be performing their first official duties; inspecting all preparations for the Festival of Lights. It is an entire ordeal to get both Fran and Corbin out of bed. Corbin gets kicked and dressed like a baby. Eventually the Guardians meet up with the Goddess (accompanied by her two Deer attendants) at the temple square. The Attendants tell the Guardians to follow the Goddess around and stay quiet. Neither Fran nor Corbin makes any promises about the staying quiet bit. The group heads out of the Temple, into the Estran city. It is loud and colourful, and Corbin is visibly upset by it. If he had feathers, they would be poofy. But both Fran and Laika are delighted. The Goddess and her attendants lead the Guardians to the Bard’s College, wherein the Guardians are disappointed about not getting chairs and treated to the Festival’s music. Next, the group arrives at a busy special-effects store called ‘The Magician's Workshop.’ The Magician's Workshop The wizards that work here are responsible for the creation of the floating lanterns that the Goddess will send into the sky, representing the lives lost in the Great Cataclysm. Both Corbin and Fran fail an arcana check, but Laika notices a weird smell, almost like a chemical or a solvent, permeating the room. Laika points this out to Fran and Corbin, and they all notice that as they are being made, the lanterns have a series of sands poured into them, followed by a vial of liquid unique to each lantern. One of the Deer Attendants comes asks a wizard if the ‘new formula’ is working, to which he responds with an affirmative. This instantly makes the party suspicious. Laika distracts people with her sick dance moves as Fran steals one of the mystery compounds. Kaitlin, she manages to flick one of the Deer attendant’s veils up, revealing that she is an elven woman. When asked, she says her name is Cecilia and the other is called Cordelia. Laika is briefly chastised by Cordelia for making a scene before they group moves onto other errands. Thats a Bad Idea After attending to the catering and textiles of the Festival, the group arrives back to the Temple square, where they are met by a seven-foot tall half-orc woman who introduces herself as Persephone, the decorator for the event. Cecilia suggests that in order to create the feeling of a more intimate space for the festival, the banners are placed to cover the exits of the square. Immediately the Guardians recognise that this is a bad idea and attempt to convince both the Deer attendants and Persephone that it would be a security risk to the Goddess. Initially, both Cordelia and Cecilia condescendingly brush of the Guardian’s concerns, but after a high persuasion roll by Laika, Persephone compromises with them to only put the banner around the alleys, as there is only one gate in and out. After Corbin finds out that the banners are inflammable, Persephone begins to direct the group to their positions in the ceremony. There is a brief moment where the attendants protest how close the Guardians are to the Goddess, stating that ‘It looks like we are expecting an attack.’ They are overruled by the Guardians and Persephone, but are visibly annoyed and end the meeting soon after. As the Deer attendants once again quickly whisk the Goddess away, she manages to sign ‘Library.’ to the Guardians. A Message to Chantel '''Kat: '''So Chantel, the code word is... Sampson. The sleeper agent is active. Go! Featured Characters PCs *Fran *Laika *Corbin NPCs *The Goddess *Unnamed Wolf Attendant *Unnamed Crow Attendant *Cordelia *Cecelia *Persephone Featured Locations *The City Temple *The Undertemple *The Bards College *The Magician's Workshop Category:Episodes Category:Arc 1: Festival of Lights